SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. -- The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College men's basketball team grabbed a pair of early leads against visiting Marian (Ind.) and then had to come-from-behind themselves late in the game as they defeated the Knights 76-74 inside the Knoerle Center in the final non-conference home game of the regular season.
It was the 11
th consecutive victory for the Pomeroys as they improved to 11-2 on the season while Marian fell to 6-7. Both the Pomeroys and Knights advanced to the NAIA National Tournament one year ago. Marian is led by Pat Knight — son of Indiana basketball coaching legend Bob Knight.
But it was the Pomeroys under the direction of second-year head coach
Jesse McClung that was the story of this contest led by
Greg Jenkins who once again put SMWC on his shoulders and hit 10-of-17 shots from the field to lead the way with 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Shon Tupuola was a focus of the Knights defense but still posted eight points and seven rebounds despite drawing a lot of the defensive attention.
The Pomeroys hit 46.7 percent of their shots from the field (26-of-60) but connected on six 3-pointers and were 14-of-18 from the charity stripe. Tupuola added three blocked shots in the game while
Greg Johnson and
Caleb Iheukwu tallied four assists. Iheukwu added four steals in the victory.
SMWC owned the paint with a 36-26 advantage and used 15 offensive rebounds to score 14 second-chance points.
Jenkins hit a shot less than a minute into the game plus the foul for the conventional 3-point play. A
Jared Bonds offensive rebound with 10:32 remaining in the half led to a Iheukwu basket for the 19-13 lead and forced a Marian timeout. Iheukwu hit a trifecta and then a fast break jumper with 7:40 remaining to stretch the advantage out to 26-17. Bonds would stretch the lead out to double digits and after Marian drew closer,
Taray Howell buried a 3-pointer with 5:15 left before the break for a 33-22 advantage.
Marian scored the next nine to get within a poession before Tupuola scored inside to make it 35-31. Howell scored with 1:11 to go for the 38-36 lead that would hold up heading into the break.
SMWC would score the first six points of the second half for a 44-36 lead. Marian countered with six in a row before
Malachi Pearson hit a jumper with 14:44 remaining for the 48-44 lead. Pearson's 3-pointer with 11:16 remaining staked the Pomeroys to a 58-50 lead. Marian would score 11 of the next 13 to take a lead before Jenkins tied it a 63 with 6:32 remaining with a 3-pointer.
Marian stretched the lead out to six points with just under five to go before the Pomeroys scored the next seven points capped by a pair of Johnson free throws with 2:42 remaining for the 70-69 lead. Marian went back ahead briefly before Jenkins hit a pair at the free throw line for the 72-71 lead with 1:40 to go. The Pomeroys did the rest of their damage at the free throw line and lead by five before Marian connected on a 3-pointer at the buzzer but it was SMWC that held on for the important 76-74 victory.
SMWC will now break for the Holidays and return to action on Saturday, January 4 at 1 pm (ET) as they resume River States Conference play against IU-Southeast inside Knoerle Center.
